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Andy Murray pulled away from the pack this year when he played but lost in the Wimbledon final, then earned Olympic Gold. But, when he won the 2012 United States Open and became the first British man to win a Grand Slam tennis title in 76 years, he joined Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic—male tennis champions playing at the highest level in the game today. Djokovic credited Murray’s rise to the next level to his ability to believe in himself and understand what it takes to make the leap. Djokovic said, “Us four, we are taking this game to another level.”

Over the past 30 years of coaching CEOs, senior teams and leaders around the globe, I’ve lost track of the number of times a high-achieving leader turned to me and asked, “Kevin, how can we step up to achieve more, to go to the next level?” To their surprise, I usually recommend stepping back—pausing—but, because it is antithetical to what they have always done, they insist, “We don’t need to pause more; we need to do more.”

Note that Djokovic didn’t attribute increased serving practice, working more hours at the net, or adopting a new fitness regime as the catalyst that made the difference for Murray in the grueling 5-set match against him. It was Murray’s inner knowing, a deeper understanding of what it takes to win at a higher level. This is the Pause Principle in action…stepping back for perspective, awareness, and transformative clarity to emerge. Then armed, leading forward.

Understanding the Paradox; Creating a New Normal

Why would pragmatic, hard-charging, achievement-driven leaders pause in order to accelerate performance and growth? Put simply, that is exactly what is needed to sort through complexity, optimize talent, and then drive performance to the next level. If leaders today do not step back to gain perspective and to transcend the immediacies of life, we will continue to crash economically, personally, and collectively. Our downside survival and upside innovation depend on this transformative process. Certainly, we need to do more to meet the demands of high-performance, complexity, and innovation, but in today’s world the doing needs to be new and different.

Pause is a universal principle inherent in living systems. It is part of the order, value, and growth that arises from slowing down and stepping back. As activity lessens, order increases. The Pause Principle is present in economies, physiologies, ecologies, organizations and nations. We observe pause on the macro and micro levels as a principle of life and leadership, a natural part of the continuum that catalyzes growth and transformation. Yet, as a culture we have ignored it, turning instead to the fast-thinking and reactiveness seemingly required as leaders. On the contrary, the demands and challenges global leaders face call for slowing things down.

Across disciplines, from neuroscience to economics, research supports the power of pause. In Thinking: Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics synthesizes his many years of research and makes a strong case for understanding our two systems of thinking: System 1, fast, intuitive and emotional; System 2, slower, more deliberate and logical. Kahneman explains that we rely too heavily on System 1, need to engage System 2, and we need to understand the impact of both on decision-making. In The Brain and Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman reminds us of a century-old model for creativity: Step 1, define and frame the problem; Step 2, Go deep; gather information; Step 3, Let go, relax, walk away; Step 4, Execute. Again, the Pause Principle in action. In Steps 1 – 3, we step back. Step 3 sets up the possibility for those gamma spikes scientists have identified in which “Aha!” moments occur. In Step 4, execute, we lead forward.

Our addiction to speed and action, busy-ness, and pursuit of the ubiquitous more in our 24/7, constantly connected, globally caffeinated cultures conspire to diminish rather than strengthen our leadership capacities. We challenge ourselves to keep up, even hasten the grueling pace, and frankly, we rationalize that it comes with the territory. Paradoxically, the job of leaders is to bring clarity to all this chaos. Digitally connected every moment, we are tied to a 24-hour global clock, expected to perform continually in the face of global pressures, including downsizing, mergers, and their related stresses and expectations. The list of demands, personal and professional never ends. This has become the “new normal.” Could it be that going faster and driving harder are not the answer? Could there be another way to perform and achieve at higher levels? Could it be that the source of our real value as leaders might come from different thinking and different choices rather than from perpetuation of the incessant pace we are straining to maintain?

Like any valuable resource, yet unrecognized and therefore neglected, we have to explore and discover its pragmatic uses in order to experience its value-creating impact. We need to learn to tap into pause, incorporating it in our lives and leadership, and leveraging it as a powerful resource, a game-changer—a catalyst for achieving higher levels of growth and performance, an innovation in and of itself.

The Pause Principle is the conscious, intentional process of stepping back, within ourselves and outside of ourselves, to lead forward with greater authenticity, purpose, and contribution. This value-creating methodology allows deeper and broader understanding, and ultimately more impactful, transformative action. Paradoxically, pause powers purposeful performance.